THE SOCIOECONOMICS OF COFFEE AND THE DEVELOPMENTAL INTERVENTIONS IN THE WESTERN REGION OF HONDURAS

Abstract

Between 2014 and 2018, a study of the political economy of coffee and human development was carried out in the departments of Copán, Ocotepeque and Lempira. The objective of the study was to understand the socio-economic contributions of coffee growing and its relationship with developmental interventions in western region of Honduras. The research contemplated a qualitative and a quantitative phase. Several interviews, observations, field trips were conducted and a questionnaire was applied to 378 subjects to translate perceptions and frequencies into the numerical language. Software such as Atlas. ti. and SPSS was used. The results show a structure of inequality in the distribution of the benefits of coffee production. Families, with their modest incomes, manage to meet the needs of food, housing, health and education, however, there are various forms of impoverishment that condition them and places families in a situation of permanent vulnerability. When coffee prices are good, there is a process of social reinvestment. Models, programs and intervention strategies in the name of poverty and development need processes of cultural deconstruction and decolonization epistemology that allow new understandings to denaturalize the shameful exclusion that western Honduras is experiencing.